Nurkent
Nurkent (Kazakh: Нұркент, Nurkent) is a town under construction in the Panfilov District of the Almaty Region of south-eastern Kazakhstan, set to be built by 2035 and the projected population of 100,000.[1][2] The town is located near one of Kazakhstan's two railway crossings on the border with China, at the Chinese city of Khorgos.
In autumn 2016, after a go-ahead from president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's minister of national Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev announced that Kazakhstan intended to allocate 11.3 billion tenge towards building infrastructure of a new town of Nurkent; it was reported that the construction of the town was seen as instrumental in resettlement of workers of the free economic zone "Khorgos — Eastern Gate", the largest transportation and logistics hub on the New Silk Road.[3][4] A dry port, a component of the Khorgos — Eastern Gate free economic zone, began to operate in January 2015.[5][6][7]
In the summer of 2017, the Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics services supplier company COSCO became the 49 percent owner the land on which the town was being built from scratch.[1]
At the end of 2017, the town was reported to have about 1,200 residents.[1]
References
- China’s Ambitious New ‘Port’: Landlocked Kazakhstan NYT, 1 January 2018.
- Каким будет город Нуркент: бизнес-центры, театры и Шелковый путь 23 September 2016.
- Kazakhstan to allot over 11B tenge on development of new town in Almaty region lenta.inform.kz, 25 October 2016.
- Bakytzhan Sagintayev was briefed on the progress of job creation in Almaty region primeminister.kz, 28 April 2017.
- Kazakhstan launches the dry port at Khorgos 23 January 2015.
- «Сухой порт» презентован в Казахстане 24 October 2015.
- Landlocked Kazakhstan challenges sea shippers for China-EU cargo Reuters, 26 October 2015.
